Acclaimed author and investigative journalist Edwin Black will lecture on the Redline Agreement - a diplomatic manouevre by the Great Powers to secure oil in the Mideast in the early 20th century. He will speak at Florida Atlantic University on Feb.5.

Bestselling author Edwin Black will chronicle the complex saga of how the oil giant British Petroleum invented the modern conflict-ridden Middle East at a Florida Atlantic University presentation 7 PM, February 5, at the ElinorBernon Rosenthal Lifelong Learning Complex, John D. MacArthur Campus, Florida Atlantic University. The event, Petropolitics, Oil and the Middle East, caps a day of "oil and history" events with the author who first coined the term "petropolitics" in 2005.

“The story of the Redline Agreement, the West’s secret pact to get Mideast oil,” says Black, “is a tortuous international escapade that travelled through World War I, the fall of the Ottoman Empire, and a tense story of greed and personal conflict to secure control of Mideast oil fields, and the pipelines to carry the crude that were laced across Palestine and Syria.” The Washington Post, speaking of his historical research, said, “Black’s impressive analysis, which included looking at more than 50,000 original documents and hundreds of scholarly books and articles ... explains why the West's record in the region so complicates nation-building there today ... Many readers may find the breadth of analysis too ambitious.” See more information about the Redline Agreement here, and a the book trailer here.

Black, author of the million-copy bestseller IBM and the Holocaust, is a popular speaker in South Florida, but has never spoken in Jupiter.

The FAU-Jupiter event kicks off a week-long, four-campus tour which includes visits to Florida International University, Broward College and the University of Miami. Further information about Black’s Florida tour can be found at edwinblack.com. For tickets or specifics on the FAU-Jupiter presentation, call 561.799.8821 or visit www.llsjupiter.com.

Spero News editor Martin Barillas is a former US diplomat, who also worked as a democracy advocate and election observer in Latin America. He is also a freelance translator.